


Counting Stars

by Arafinwe



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-13 00:06:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9096541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arafinwe/pseuds/Arafinwe
Summary: Glorfindel is shy, Ecthelion is shiny, and both of them are in love.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not really sure where I was even going with this, but have some overly-sappy fluff! :)

“Do you know there are many, many stars up there?” Glorfindel asked Ecthelion one night as Ecthelion was watching the sky beside the fountain. 

“I do, yes,” Ecthelion answered. He shifted his eyes furtively to Glorfindel, who stood gazing at him as intently and reverently as he himself was watching the stars. He always found it so endearing, the soft blush that had crept into Glorfindel’s cheeks.

“We counted, Egalmoth and I,” Glorfindel said. “Lots.”

“Did you?”

“We did. I counted those ones,” Glorfindel pointed to the stars that blinked over the city. “And Egalmoth counted those ones.” His finger pointed to the stars that blinked over the distant mountains. Ecthelion smiled.

“And there were many?”

“Oh, very many.”

Ecthelion could not help but notice the slight tremble in Glorfindel’s voice, easy and lighthearted though his words were, and his eyes crinkled in laughter. He could hardly believe it: bright, effervescent Glorfindel--shy. _Bright, effervescent Glorfindel--beautiful_ , he also thought. His mind returned to his companion’s comment.

“I hope you found them as lovely as I do,” he said gently, and his voice, to Glorfindel, was as soft as the sound he imagined those selfsame stars to make, soft and airy and brilliant. He watched Ecthelion’s eyes as they turned once more to the sky, following their path with his own, but for all the light he found there he hardly noticed the stars at all. The small diamonds strewn throughout Ecthelion’s dark hair glinted, and in Glorfindel’s perception the face of the lord of the Fountain was filled with some otherworldly light that only the starry night could reveal. He was decidedly entranced.

“Well, it seems that we missed one,” he whispered dreamily.

Too late did Glorfindel realize he was whispering aloud. Ecthelion froze, biting his lips in silent laughter, and Glorfindel felt his cheeks burning. He turned away in an instant.

“ _Ohh, well done, that was a bit overplayed_ ,” he scolded himself silently, and he squeezed his eyes shut, mortified at his own words. Suddenly he felt the slightest tug on his hair and whipped around to face Ecthelion, who, while still starry-eyed (it was still a starry night after all) also looked rather exasperated.

“At least make sense when you’re trying to flatter me! I’m not the one who glows like the sun itself!” 

A broad grin spread across Glorfindel’s face, and Ecthelion shook his head. 

“What am I to do with you, Glorfindel?”

“Count stars with me?” he asked sweetly. Ecthelion raised an eyebrow but shot him a coy look.

“I thought you already did that with Egalmoth.”

Glorfindel was still for a moment. Taking a deep breath, he looked around him.

“Well…”

He glanced at Ecthelion out of the corner of his eye, and his heart leaped as he found the sly expression still on his fair face. More than that, those bright eyes were watching him, _intently_... Feeling confident, he pointed to the reflected stars blinking in the waters of the fountain. 

“We missed those ones, for sure,” he hinted with a smile. 

Ecthelion rolled his eyes, but the look he gave Glorfindel was undoubtedly fond.

“Very well.”

He took a step forward and peered down into the waters, sighing calmly. There for a moment the mirror of the sky danced before him. Countless drops of light glinted like living jewels in the cool air, but as he looked closer, all seemed to change strangely. The tiny lights faded into deep nothingness, and he found reflected there beside him not stars, but a golden figure, crowned with the rays of the moon, a golden, shining figure…  
_When had his heart started racing?_

It was then that Glorfindel, who had been standing unmoving beside Ecthelion, felt warm, gentle fingers close about his own shaking ones. With a small gasp he turned to Ecthelion, shocked to see his friend staring at him with something of untamed fire in those ice-blue eyes. Ecthelion’s grasp tightened.

“What are you doing?” Glorfindel mouthed breathlessly.

“Counting.”

“Wha?”

Ecthelion smiled, and Glorfindel, his heart beating wildly, remained as still as a stone, breathing about as much as a stone might. A burning gaze met his own. In its brightness, the stars were forgotten, and he had the sneaking suspicion that Ecthelion had forgotten them as well. Slowly, Ecthelion lifted their joined hands. 

“One,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to Glorfindel’s fingers, which were now held closely in his own. Never once did he remove his eyes from Glorfindel’s face, and his heart swelled as he beheld the glowing wonder written there.

“Two.”

A kiss was pressed to Glorfindel’s brow, and golden hair was brushed gently aside.

“Three.”

Soft lips met the corner of Glorfindel’s mouth, and Ecthelion felt the hot, shaking breath against his lips whisper “four…”

***

Ecthelion had always noticed that Glorfindel at times seemed to glow like Arien in living form, that the radiance of his soul could be seen and felt when the golden lord’s heart was happy. Until that moment, he had never known the reason for it, but for now he felt and saw it plainly. All the better, he thought: the night was yet young after all, and they two stood together beneath the many, many stars.


End file.
